Adopt a Student Ministry – 2012-2013

In its sixth year, the Adopt a Student Ministry has expanded considerably. Twelve new students have been added, including two at Lutheran High South. The Lutheran Foundation continues to support the ministry by providing dollar-for-dollar matches to contributions from individuals and congregations for the scholarships for New American students. We are thrilled with the new students, who will benefit from both the academic quality and the supportive Christian environment of their schools and their congregations. The challenge for CFNA is to identify families and congregations to “adopt” these new students.

Not only have we added new students, but these students provide additional connections to New American communities. Although CFNA has been building relationships with the Bhutanese community, for the first time we will now have Nepalese students at Word of Life. In addition, Word of Life will have a Vietnamese student, continuing a longstanding relationship with that community initially served by King of Glory Lutheran School. Finally, Green Park Lutheran will have two Honduran students, the first from a Middle American country to be served by our program.

Eighteen students will be attending Word of Life this year, most of whom belong either to Timothy or Ascension. Because many of these students do not have transportation to school, CFNA and Timothy are cooperating to provide transportation for the children. The students will also benefit from a homework help service funded by the Lutheran Foundation. Because their families are not familiar with American educational practices they cannot provide the level of support their children need to be successful in school.

Two new schools have been added to the program this year. Grace Chapel Lutheran School has two students from Liberia; their family belongs to Immanuel Chapel. Green Park has two students from Honduras who are members of Resurrection.

The continuing student at Salem Lutheran School, Affton, is a member of Hope, where she was baptized this spring. The student at Christ Community Lutheran School is the member of a large family who are members of Messiah; two of her siblings attend Lutheran South with Adopt a Student scholarships. Four other students also attend Lutheran South.

Please consider helping to support this ministry. Prayer for these students and families is important. In addition, if you are interested in supporting this ministry, or know someone who might be interested, please contact Judith Meyer (judithmeyer@swbell.net or 314-725-5386). You might also consider asking an organization in your church to consider “adopting” a student. Organizations at Mount Calvary and Webster Gardens have done that in past years, and Judith would be happy to make a presentation to a group that might be interested.

The Lutheran Foundation supports this ministry not only by helping to provide scholarships for 30 students but by covering other costs of this ministry. The facilitators, strong Lutherans who are New Americans themselves, connect the children, the families, the schools and congregations. They were critical in identifying the new students this summer and helping them enroll. In addition, the Foundation helps support the transportation of students to Word of Life; many of their students live in South City, and thus cannot get to Word of Life easily.